Short Summary

As Soviet Party Leader Leonid Brezhnev and President Pompidou of France met in the first round of a two-day conference in Paris on Tuesday (June 26), groups of Parisians were demanding freedom for Jews in the Soviet Union.

Description

As Soviet Party Leader Leonid Brezhnev and President Pompidou of France met in the first round of a two-day conference in Paris on Tuesday (June 26), groups of Parisians were demanding freedom for Jews in the Soviet Union.

Two-hundred women, carrying umbrellas, banners and balloons, marched in silence through the city. Fifteen youths entered the third day of their hunger strike, timed to coincide with the Brezhnev visit. And at the Memorial to the Unknown Jewish Martys demonstrators chanted, shook their fists and waved posters and banners. Their messages were angry, and directed at Mr. Brezhnev, who they labelled "racist" and "the Pharaoh of the Kremlin".

The protesters say 3.5 million Jews of the Soviet Union are oppressed and prevented form emigrating the Israel -- charges denied by Mr. Brezhnev during his recent visit to the United States.